Highway fence



June25,1929. J.H.RAMSEY 1,718,877

HIGHWAY FENCE Filed Deo. lq, 1928 atented L`.lune 25, 1929.

TDSEPH H. RAMSEY, OFALBANY, NEW YORK.

HIGHWAY FENCE.

Application filed lDecember 10, 1928. Serial No. 325,002.

'llhis invention relates to protection barriers, and more particularlyto highway fences.

For some years it has been recognized that tratlic conditionsnecessitated the construction of barriers for maintaining vehicles uponthe highway, in the event that the person responsible for the locomotionthereof lost control of the same. 'lhe lack of vsuch barriers has, inmany accidents, permitted vehicles which wandered from the highway gtostrike immovable objects on adjacent liti land, and has permitted manyother vehicles to fall into depressions or down embankments.

'llhe necessity for placing barriers along dangerous portions ofhighways has become more apparent in recent years because of theastounding increase in the number of such accidents as previouslyreferred to, for it has been found that the construction. of smooth andwider roadbeds and the improvements in the construction of motorvehicles, has resulted in a greatly increased average speed of travel.vrlhe highways, although improved by being widened and given a bettersurface, largely follow the same general courses as they followed-inthedays when highway travel was at a relatively low speed, which coursesnecessitate the presence of various turns or curves in the roadbeds; andit has been found that numerous accidents occur especially at suchbends, these accidents quite often being attributed to shielding of thevehicle due to the failure of the operator to reduce the speed of travelsufficiently permit the traversing of the bends.

ln order to protect the operators of motor `vehicles and to eliminateproperty damage as far as possible, attempts have been made to preventvehicles sliidding from the roadways at the bends and in dangerouspasses, by the construction of rather heavy fences formed of rigid postswith stringers arranged between them. Much difficulty has developed asthe result of the employment of this type of highway fence for thereasonl that the speed of a motor vehicle, together with its weight,created such a forcible impact between the fence and the slriddingvehicle that portions ofthe fence were brolren away, thereby permittingthe passage of the vehicle through the same.I` While, in. someinstances, the momentum of a vehicle has been checlred upon engagingsuch a fence,

nevertheless in a large number of instances" a fence of thisconstruction proved to be of little value. Furthermore, the tendency ofa fence thus constructed to splinter often resulted in severe injury tooccupants of the vehicle.`

ll/lany improvements upon highway fences constructed entirely of rigidsupports and stringers have been made with the view of providing a.fence strong enough to meet the utmost demands to be placed upon it,butso far asili am aware such attempts have resulted in the productionof fences which have proven to be inefficient. Among the numerous typesof fences which have heen constructed, are those having concrete postsupports and Wooden s tringers and those having concrete posts andcables extending throughout the length of the fence, the cables beinganchored at "their ends. 'lhe concrete `posts proved dangerous in usebecause of the lach of resiliency, and when employed with woodenstringers, the stringers were easily brolren away from the remainderofthe structure and, too, the stringers splintered in the same manner aswhen employed with other rigid posts. Jinside from the objection to theconcrete posts, the fence employing such posts in connection with wirecables stretched between the same, proved somewhat more edicient thanthe structures which had preceded them; but as the fences were notcontinuous, the anchorage for'the ends of' the cables presentedobstacles which were not readily overcome. Such anchorage is necessaryto take the strain to which the cables are subjected when they arestruck by a. vehicle. lin' structures heretofore used, the anchors havebeen crude andunsightly.- lhey have a low visibility, deterioraterapidly, have little resiliency .and are often destroyed by theft olithe parts. 'lhus arcominon form of anchorage consists of'twisted cablessecured to the end post of the'fence and to alog or timber which isburied inthe ground. 'llo provide the necessary tension, the cables aretwisted with a bar of wood or metal after they are connected to the postand log or timber.. ln suoli a structure the cables rust where theyenter the ground and the wood rots, so that the life pf the structure isrelatively short. Vlhe structure has comparatively little strength andresiliency, low visibility to the driver of a vehicle and is sightly., l

. A modified form of thisv anchorage strucllltl llltl ture employs metalrods with turn-buckles to provide tension. The` rods are connected tothe end posts and to buried posts or concrete anchors, but thesestructures, like those above referredto, have many disadvantages andhave not proven very satisfactory.

-.,ture has been completed.

It is a further object of the present invention to construct a fencehaving uprights or'supports t'or a'cable which are adapted to be movedtransversely to the roadway,

including `in combination therewith means for anchoring the ends of thecable, such anchoring means being adapted to function with the supportsand be movable trans'- versely to the roadway to thereby eliminatestretching of the cable to a minimum degree, and to avoid a breakage'ofthe anchoring means. i

The invention furtldi'erJ contemplates the construction of ahighway-fence employing a plurality of cables, whereby upon collisionthe cables, due to their manner of support,

effect automatic adjustment'with respect to each otherin oppositedirections transverse tothe highway, or in the same direction, andmovable anchorage means forthe cables which tend to equalize the strainplaced thereon.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent upon a consideration ofthe following detailed description when taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings,

' wherein in this application .to illustrate the manner Fig. 1 is a viewofan end-sujlport showing the cables in position and t eadjacentanchorage means in combination therewith;

and

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of a highway fence embodying the presentinvention.

As the detailed fence including the supportis illustrated and claimed 1nmy copending application Serial 154,138, and as the detailed anchorageconstruction is illustrated and claimed in my copend'ing applicationSerial No. 243,805, it is .only necessary to describe these elements inj suilicient detail in-which both constructions combine to form thefence of the present invention.

Ip referring to the drawings ill/detail, the

numeral 1 designates generally the supports which are adapted to sustaina plurality of guardl rails 2. The guard rails are prefer'- ably steelcables attached by clips 3 to the forward projecting extremities ofequalizving members .4, so that the guard rails are suppoirted inspaced'relationship one above the other. y The guard rails or cables 2arc slidably mountedin the clips 3, the cables being passed firstthrough a clip on one support and then through the clip of an adjacentsupport throughout thelength of the fence. The ends o? anchoragemechanism designated at 5 so that the cables can be maintained undertension throughout the whole section of fence.

Each of the equalizing, members V4 is pivoted at6 so as to rock on ahorizontal airis in the upper end of an upright member 7. It will, ofcourse, be understood that th'e horizontal axis will in each instanceextend parallel to the edge of the roadbed at that particular point. Theupright member 7 is com osed of two similar plates clamped toget ier attheir upper ends b bolt 8, therebyvproviding a bearing on whic 1 member4 may 'rock relatively to melnber 7. The lowerfends of the side platesof the member 7 are pivoted in a similar manner by a bolt 13 passinghorizontally through the center of the cup-shaped bearings formed byconvex and concave surfaces to lock them in place. It will be noted thatthe plates of the upright member 7 are spaced much wider apart at thebottom than they are'at their upperends, which imp-arts lateral'rigidityto the structure.

. Between the plates of thel upright member 7, substantially at the samelane as the bottom of the equalizing mem `er A4, is a circular swivelplate 14 provided with trunions 15 projecting through holes in theplates of the upright member 7. Pivotally connected to the lower end ofthe member 4, opposite the swivel plate 14, is a bolt 16 projectinghorizontally through the center of plate 14. Surrounding the bolt 1Gbetween a suitable seat on member 4 and plate 14, is a resilientcompression member, which may be of rubber but is preferably in the formof a coiled spring. 18. Between plate 14 and washer 19 on the free endof bolt 16 is a similar resilient'member or coiled spring 20. By meansof nuts lon bolt 16, any desired pressure may be maintained on spring 18and 20. It will be appreciated that by the above arrangement member) 4is resiliently held vin vertical osition, and if it be moved from thatposition it will automatically return to its normal position as soon asit is released.

Each of the. lates of the upright member 7 is provided) wardlyprojecting arm 21. Between these arms 21 is a swivel platel 22 *fromwhich the cables are fixed to near its bottom with a rearprojectstrunnions 23 through holes in arms 2l, while between plate 22 and baseplate 12 is a resilient cushion preferably in the form of a coiledcompression spring 24, which is aligned in operative position by asocket in plate l2 and a base on plate 22. Passing vertically throughplate 22 and spring 24C is a bolt 2T, the lower end ot which is anchoredpreferably in foundation 287 set into the ground to support the wholestructure. The upper end of the bolt 2 passes through plate 22 and isfitted with nuts 29 by means of which the proper pressure may be appliedto spring 2l.

By adjusting nuts 29 the outer end of the structure may easily be lnovedback or lforth transversely to the highway for properly aligning thetence.

lt will be appreciated that when an alitomobile contacts with the. guardrails or cablesI 2, the blow will be cushioned by the resilientsupporting structure as described.

Adjacent each end support l of the :tence is an anchor to which all theguard rails or cables 2 are secured. Each ot these, anchors which areindicated by the numeral llpconsists ot' a base 3i ot concrete or othersuitable material and a bracket 35. 'llhe bracket may be made of castiron, ttor example, and may consist of a t'oot 36 adapted to be securedby bolts 3T `to the base 34 and an upright member 38. 'llhe foot andupright member may have. lugs 39 and 4() thereon to receive a pin al,wherebya pivotal connection is provided. Sheaves 4t2 may be mounted ona, pin 43 extending through and secured in spaced lugs 44C on theupright; member. 'llhe guard rails or cables 2 extend about the sheavesand the upper ends thereof are secured by clamps 45 consisting, forexample` ot lll-bolts adapted to straddle the strands of the cable. Thetil-bolts may be held by keepers @t6 and nuts 4T.

F rom the foregoing description it will be understood that should avehicle skid or otherwise be thrown against the, guard rails 2, theforce, of the impact will cause. the upright members to rock upon theinpivots with a resulting tendency to cause, a detor mation ot' the guardrails. Such a deformation ot the guard rails tends to produce anelongation ot the same, but as the bracket 35 ot the anchor to which theends ot the rails are connected is mounted to swing on an axisextendingparallel to the rails, the elongation thereof will, to a large extent,be

eliminated by the bracket 35 swinging on its pivot to :tollow generallythe direction ot deformation. llt will also be apparent that should theentire force of the impact oit the Vehicle be directed against only'oneot the guard rails, the. equalizing members will oscillate on theirrespective pivots and thereby transmit a Vportion of the strain to theother guard rail. The tendency ot the bracket 35 ot the anchor to assumean intermediate position with respect to the two rails readily permitsthe equalization of the strain.

l claim:

1. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along thehighwav.r a support lor the barrier mounted to yield in a directiontransverse to the highway, and anchoring means for at least on-e end otsaid barrier, said anchoring means including an element to which saidbarrier is secured, said element being movable about an axis extendingsubstantially parallel to the barrier at that point.

2. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along thehighway. a pivoted support therefor adapted to yield upon the impositionol a force against the barrier, and an anchoring means for the ends ofthe barrier, said anchoring means including an element to which saidbarrier is secured, said element being pivoted to permit movement in adirection transversely of the barrier at that point. y

3. A highway fence construction comprising a barrier extending along thehighway, support therefor pivotcd on an axis substantially parallel tothe barrier7 and anchoring means including a base member and a bracketpivoted thereto on an axis exteinling subw stantially parallel to thebarrier at that point, said barrier being secured to said bracket.

et. A highway fence construction comprising a pair ot flexible guardrails, an equalizing member by which the rails are carried, a pivotedupright member for supporting the equalizing member and anchoring meansfor the pair of guard rails, said anchoring means including an elementpivoted on an axis extending substantially parallel to said rails atthat point and to which the rails are secured.

ln testimony whereof lt atiix my signature.

.iosiarn n. nitMsnY.

